With US Nationals being held at Solider Hollow in Heber City, UT this year, most of the “sea level” team searched for ways to get some extra early time at altitude before the races. We are very fortunate to have a teammate, Liz Guiney (nick-named lizguine after the long, lean pasta) who lives in Park City. Her mom, Julie, and mom’s boyfriend, Dave, graciously opened their home to us for a pre camp. It was a great opportunity to train on the courses, adjust to the altitude, and get in our holiday social fix. Oh and eat some amazing food!

Dave happens to be a culinary expert and was the personal chef for Justin Bieber and Kendall Jenner in early December (no jokes here). So Dave took home all the left over food that Justin (yes, first name basis) didn’t use. It was pretty fun to be eating Bieb’s preferred items. We are fully confident that we now are sponsored by him #fueledbyjustin. Our pancake breakfast would have been nothing without the Bieber Buttermilk, Bieber Vanilla, or Bieber Maple Syrup (Vermonter approved). Snack time was made even greater with Bieber Hot Chips and Bieber Ritz Crackers. Plus, Dave was able to tell us lots of Bieber stories. Next to arrive will be Taylor Swift, so we will probably return for a post camp

While in Park City, we had a fun filled, yet very packed social schedule. But don’t worry, we made plenty of time for recovery as well, knowing some of our more important races were right around the corner. Liz’s Dad, RJ, and step Mom, Deann, hosted us for a delicious dinner of burgers, salad, potatoes, and yummy toffee dessert bars. We enjoyed a very relaxed game of ping pong and decided that we should definitely stick to skiing. The next night, we tagged along to an Eve before the Eve party. I feel as if party doesn’t even cut it – gala may be more appropriate. The event was hosted at a beautiful house in Deer Valley, with amenities such as valet parking and a coat check. The attire was anywhere from jeans and blouses, to beautiful gowns, and sparkling bell bottom pants. And the decorations, sheer size, and set up of the house was anything but incredible. We debated between making friends and exploring while there, and went with the exploring option. We enjoyed yummy finger foods (but had our hand sanitizer in our pockets) that seemed to be endless, and took over the chocolate fountain for dessert. The gala made for amazing people watching, and we certainly enjoyed our very spoiled evening. We also made time for shopping at the outlet malls and seeing the new Star Wars movie. Our final social event was a nice dinner prepared by Julie and Dave with Liz’s childhood friend.

Getting all dressed up for the Eve before the Eve party. We almost fit in!! Photo cred: Dave

We are so so grateful to them for hosting us and letting us take over their kitchen, bathrooms, and bedrooms. These past 5 days have been great preparation for us, and we are looking forward to a few more days of resting, speed practice, and ski/course testing before the races.

A beautiful day to practice some high speed skiing at the White Pine trails! Photo cred: Heather

Walking through the parking garage to access the skiing. We were feeling pretty spoiled to park in an underground garage! And were thinking back to our fast laps in Slovenia with very similar scenery. Photo cred: Heather

Thanks to Skida for our new head gear!! We were getting crafty at Liz’s sewing on our new GRP and SkiErg patches.

Our last day at Liz’s house, we enjoyed an urban ski tour right from her front door!! This was right before the 24hr blizzard hit. Photo cred: Heather

We’ll kick things off Saturday with a 10K skate followed by a Classic Sprint on Sunday, the Mass Start classic races on Tuesday, and finally a Skate Sprint prelim on Thursday. You can check the results here: http://summittiming.com/races/race_results.php

Stay tuned for more!

-Mary

]]>Over the River and Through the Woodshttp://greenracingproject.com/blog/8159/over-the-river-and-through-the-woods/
Sun, 27 Nov 2016 22:44:29 +0000http://greenracingproject.com/blog/?p=8159Prior to heading out west, the temps hadn’t dropped low enough for the snow guns to start blowing in Craftsbury so all the skiers, plus a few biathletes, made the trek north to Foret Montmorency in Quebec for our second annual Boreal Glide speed block! Foret Montmorency saves snow over the summer under a giant pile of wood chips and at the end of October they spread it out on a 2.5k loop (the Boreal Glide) which literally goes over a river and through the woods. For a short loop it has a wide variety of terrain so it’s great for technique work and doesn’t get boring. We made good use of our time on snow with two ski workouts per day and three speed sessions in four days. All our workouts were high quality and it felt good to get in some speed on snow. It was also nice to work on transitioning some of the technique changes we made in Park City from wheels to skis. One of the camp highlights was our afternoon specific strength workout when we underestimated how long it was going to take and ended finishing well after dark. We got some funny looks and a few cheers as we pulled each other up hills in the encroaching darkness. And no camp is complete without a mental toughness workout. On our third morning in Foret, we went for a real swim of a ski. It rained for the entirety of our 2-2.5 hour classic workout and by the end we looked, and felt, like drowned rats that had been put in a freezer. Fortunately the rain lightened up in time for our afternoon workout, and thanks to some extra clothes provided by Jake and our bathroom turned “drying” room, the whole team stayed relatively comfortable. Our camp concluded with a 10/15k skate time trial. It was quite valuable and confidence boosting to get in a race simulation workout on snow prior to leaving for our first real races of the season. Unfortunately I have no pictures of people so you’ll just have to appreciate my scenery shots (and a video of our time trial, courtesy of Jake).

Welcome to Foret!

Ribbons of snow!

Some cool lichen growing on the ground

Some cool lichen growing in the trees

Water droplets hanging onto some pine needles

Now you might be wondering what we got up to between workouts. Despite the lack of internet in our humble abode, we were never bored. We came armed with numerous movies, knitting projects (at least in the case of one knitting-obsessed individual), books, and an 1000 piece puzzle. We definitely overestimated the number of movies we needed to bring as we only made it through two movies during our four-day camp. This was largely due to the fact that at 8:30pm we would turn off the movie in favor of brushing our teeth and getting into bed… It’s possible we would have made it through a third movie if the 1000 piece puzzle hadn’t been broken out on our last evening in Foret and feverishly completed prior to our departure the next morning. Speaking of our departure, we managed to eat almost all the food we packed for the camp and only had to throw out one burger!

Our dining room/kitchen with the partially completed 1000 piece puzzle on the table

We’re very grateful to Foret Montmorency for an awesome pre-season camp. They did an incredible job maintaining and grooming the loop while we were. Also, a big thanks to Nick and Jake for all their support, and for waxing, videoing, and taking lactates. The skiers are now in West Yellowstone and the biathletes are out in Canmore so race blogs are on the horizon. Stay tuned and thanks for reading!

]]>USBA Rollerski Trials and Musings from a Rookie Biathletehttp://greenracingproject.com/blog/8132/usba-rollerski-trials-and-musings-from-a-rookie-biathlete/
Sun, 23 Oct 2016 20:41:51 +0000http://greenracingproject.com/blog/?p=8132This past weekend all the GRP biathletes, as well as a few of us skiers who are giving biathlon a shot (pun intended), reunited in Jericho for USBA Rollerski Trials. The field was quite small with only 10 women and 13 men competing, but the competition was stiff with the best biathletes in the country toeing the line. These races, along with the trials races in August, are being used to select athletes for a pre-season USBA camp in Canmore. Both days featured a sprint race, which has two shooting stages (one prone and one standing) and is 7.5k in length for women and 10k for men. I always like rollerskiing in Jericho and it’s an added bonus to get to race there. We spend most of our summer on roads, which are not representative of ski trail topography, so it’s quite beneficial to rollerski on a paved track with steep hills and sharp corners that keep you on your toes.

This post will be written from the perspective of someone relatively new to biathlon and will focus on some of what I’ve learned from my experiences. I started doing some shooting two summers ago in preparation for competing in one of the 2015 August trials races. Since then I’ve raced one NorAm last winter and four rollerski trials races this summer and fall. The learning curve has been steep and far from linear. I’ve done countless ski races, but biathlon is really a whole different beast. For starters, there is a lot more to do and remember before you even get to the start line. You have to bring your rifle though equipment check, zero your rifle, remember to load your magazines, and make sure your rifle is actually on your back when you get to the start gate. Even once the race get’s underway there’s still quite a lot to think about. As you enter the range it’s important to make sure the wind hasn’t changed since you zeroed and if it has you must decide whether or not to adjust your sites. In a sprint race, you have to choose your shooting point, shoot, remember how many penalty laps you need to ski, and then correctly count your laps as you ski them (for every lap you neglect to ski you get a 2 minute penalty so you really want to ski the correct number of laps). Unlike in a ski race, where you usually compete on one single loop that you may ski multiple times depending on the length of the race, in biathlon you ski different loops during the same race so you also have to keep track of which loop you should be skiing. All of these things become slightly more difficult to remember when you’re in race mode and your brain doesn’t seem to be functioning at max capacity. However, it goes without saying that the more experienced you are the less you need to consciously think about all these processes and everything becomes second nature. Additionally, the more experienced you are the fewer penalty laps you usually have to ski… I remember being particularly overwhelmed last summer during my first biathlon race and I kept feeling as though I was forgetting something or was about to forget something. I’m happy to say that while shooting is by no means second nature to me and I still have a copious amount to learn, I am considerably more comfortable and confident than I was last summer and I’m continuing to enjoy the challenge of learning something new.

Some of my confidence has come from time and repetition while some has grown from experience and learning. I’m incredibly lucky to have a range in my backyard, awesome teammates who are always willing to answer questions and give advice, and a supportive shooting coach. The more times I take off and put on my rifle the easier it gets and the less I have to think about it. I’ve learned that it is worthwhile to back off a bit coming into the range if it means I have higher chance of hitting more targets. It’s always a bit of a shock to shoot with a high heart rate, but it is slowly becoming less shocking the more I do it. In fact, this past weekend was the first time I’ve felt reasonably comfortable shooting with a high heart rate. I’ve also gotten better at taking my time in the range even when my competitors are zipping in and out while I’m still on the mat. It’s certainly seems counterintuitive to relax and slow down in the middle of a race when you’re trying to get to the finish line as fast as possible, but spending a few extra seconds between shots to get a hit is worth it when each penalty lap takes about 20-30s to ski. For me, being slow in the range and slightly more accurate is better than being fast and incredibly inaccurate. Speed will come with time and practice, I hope. During my first biathlon race last summer, I skied way too hard into the range and then rushed through my shooting stages which needless to say didn’t go so well. While my results from this past weekend weren’t anything to write home about and certainly nothing an experienced biathlete would be psyched with, I was quite happy with some personal bests and that’s what matters at this point. However, my teammates certainly had some notable results which was quite exciting. Susan had a great weekend winning both races by a considerable margin. On Sunday, Emily shot clean for the first time ever and placed second which was awesome! Watching Emily’s improvement as a biathlete since she switched over from rowing has been quite inspiring. In the men’s race, Mike shot very well with only one standing miss and finished 5th. Not everyone had their best weekend of racing, but another thing I’ve learned about biathlon is that there are lots of ups and downs and persistence is a necessity. For a full run down of GRP results you can check out this news piece. And, of course, no blog post would be complete without some photos. Thanks for reading!

Ethan had the top GRP result for the men on Saturday placing 6th (photo: Caitlin Patterson)

Alex sprinting towards the finish line (photo: Caitlin)

Mike cleaning his prone stage on Sunday (photo: Deb Miller)

Mike racing along a particularly scenic section of the course. The foliage around Jericho was quite spectacular this past weekend! (photo: Deb)

Standing stage on Sunday (photo: Deb)

Gunnar made lots of friends last weekend! (photo: Caitlin)

]]>Der Dachstein 3.0http://greenracingproject.com/blog/8054/der-dachstein-3-0/
Sun, 09 Oct 2016 22:05:45 +0000http://greenracingproject.com/blog/?p=8054After a productive speed camp in Slovenia, we headed to Austria for a distance block. This was our third year in a row skiing on the Dachstein glacier and I think it’s safe to say the third time was a charm. We had an incredible streak of weather with eight straight days of sun, making t-shirts a necessity even on the glacier. After skiing around in a dark concrete tunnel for a week, we had to be sure to layer on the sunscreen… While the snow did get dirtier as the week progressed, we were able to ski every day on race skis as long as we avoided some of the sketchier corners. With our primary focus being distance, we logged 2-3 hours each morning on the glacier followed by a strength session or another distance workout in the afternoon. We went on some scenic run/hikes in the mountains and utilized the hilly rollerski track, which also had a biathlon range. For strength, we got super creative in our rental house backyard… We had been doing max strength in Slovenia, but in Austria we switched to endurance strength so luckily we didn’t need massive weights.

Walking down to the ski trail from the tramhouse (photo: Caitlin Patterson)

Ants or skiers? Also, can you spot the helicopter? (photo: Caitlin)

Nick did an incredible job keeping our skis well waxed and cared for (photo: Caitlin)

Some technique coaching, some waxing, and Charlotte Kalla skating along in the background (photo: Caitlin)

Skiing in a vast expanse of snowy whiteness (photo: Caitlin)

Nick and Ethan skating up one of the climbs (photo: Caitlin)

Women’s train going left, men’s train going right (photo: Caitlin)

We’re almost in sync! (photo: Caitlin)

Cornering (photo: Caitlin)

Heather enjoying some crust cruising (photo: Caitlin)

Mike striding it out (photo: Caitlin)

Looking down onto the section of glacier we skied on last year (photo: Kait Miller)

Selfie from the tram roof on our way down! Don’t worry, there was a railing so we weren’t at risk of falling overboard… Note the tramhouse perched on top of the mountain in the upper right.

One of our favorite camp traditions is double poling up the “Pichl Road” which is a 1,500ft climb over 4.5 miles from Pichl to Ramsau. It’s a bit of a grind, but super good for specific strength and a satisfying workout to complete. This year we all double poled it once and then some brave souls did it a second time while the rest of us skated.

Skating up the Pichl Road with some nice cows in the background (photo: Pepa Miloucheva)

Looking up towards the Dachstein from the Pichl Road (photo: Pepa)

Another workout that’s quickly becoming a camp favorite is our 2x6x1 minute bounding intervals. With so many distance sessions, these intervals ensure we maintain some of our top end speed and remind us what lactic acid feels like. This year we were fortunate enough to be living on a downhill ski trail so we had a lovely, steep, grassy slope for our intervals right out the back door!

This house, like many others in the area, was dripping with flowers (photo: Kait)

For one of our over distance workouts this year we took the tram up to the glacier, skied for about an hour and a half, and then ran back down to the valley. Like every other day of the camp, the weather was amazing! The trail below the glacier passes through the glacier foreland and it looked like the moon!

Running down behind the glacier (photo: Kait)

A chairlift over the moonscape (photo: Kait)

Team photo in our snazzy new Craft tights! Also, thanks to Skida for the awesome custom headbands! (photo: Caitlin)

After one final run/hike through the mountains we headed back to Craftsbury just in time for peak foliage! We’ll be home for a few weeks before the biathletes and skiers head separate ways for camps in Lake Placid and Park City respectively. For now I’ll leave you with a video recap of the training camp curtesy of master videographer, Pepa. And last, but not least, thanks to Nick, Sam, and Pepa for all the coaching, waxing, and support during the camp (and always)!

]]>SuperTour Finals Weekhttp://greenracingproject.com/blog/7732/supertour-finals-week/
Thu, 31 Mar 2016 16:56:09 +0000http://greenracingproject.com/blog/?p=7732Despite the dismal winter we’ve had, SuperTour Finals was a resounding success and a fun end to the 2015/16 race season for the GRP skiers. It’s always great to race at home with friends and family lining the course! The groomers did an impressive job farming snow and we were able to race on a hilly and challenging 3.5k loop composed entirely of manmade snow. The weather cooperated, freezing overnight, and the many enthusiastic volunteers made the whole event run incredibly smoothly. Here’s a smattering of photos from the week. You can read, in more detail, about the first two races here (the individual skate and classic sprint) and the second two races here (the relay and the 30/50k classic). Also, you can view results here.

Prior to the races, we hosted a Fast and Female event at the Center. We had over 80 girls in attendance! It was awesome to have so many women from other elite teams (as well as the U.S. Ski Team) help out as ambassadors. (photo: Caitlin Patterson)

Heather leading some of the Fast and Female participants up teaching hill (photo: Reese Brown)

Hallie and Katrina Howe heading up the “biathlon” station (photo: Caitlin Patterson)

It was great to have so many Craftsbury juniors participating in the event! (photo: Caitlin Patterson)

Group shot! (photo: Reese Brown)

Some of the elite team (and U.S. Ski Team) men hosted an afternoon speed camp for both boys and girls. Here are some participants heading through the snow tunnel in the upper soccer field.

Also prior the “real” races, was another fun event – the Dash for Cash. Here are Kait, Heather, and Quincy (Craftsbury BKLer) in their quartfinal heat. (photo: Reese Brown)

And Caitlin and Hallie (in the fancy red one-piece) during their quarterfinal (photo: Reese Brown)

Caitlin avoiding some chaos around the cone (photo: Reese Brown)

Ida sending it through the snow tunnel (photo: Reese Brown)

Both Ida and Heather made the final with Ida taking the win and Heather placing fourth (photo: Reese Brown)

The skate race was followed by a classic sprint the next day. Here’s Liz striding up Moss Run in her semifinal (photo: Reese Brown)

Here’s Ida in her semifinal followed by Caitlin and Kait (photo: Reese Brown)

Ida crossing the line in second! (photo: Reese Brown)

So much excitement! (photo: Reese Brown)

Classic sprint podium (photo: Reese Brown)

After a day off, racing action resumed with the team relay. With all the GRP men racing at Biathlon Nationals (which you can read about here), the GRP women had to compete on mixed relay teams. Liz and Hallie formed the Green Buffalos with Colorado University skiers Petter Reistad and Mads Stroem. Here’s Liz tagging off to Mads. (photo: Reese Brown)

Hallie skied a very strong anchor leg crossing the line in fourth. (photo: Reese Brown)

Ida and Caitlin formed the Vailbury Green Team with Ski and Snowboard Club Vail skiers Noah Hoffman and Tad Elliot. Here’s Caitlin heading out on her anchor leg after being tagged by Tad. They finished second behind APU! (photo: Reese Brown)

SuperTour Finals wrapped up with the 30/50k classic. Here’s the start of the women’s 30k. (photo: Reese Brown)

Heather getting off to a good start (photo: Reese Brown)

Lots of green suits in the chase pack! (photo: Deb Miller)

Liz leading Erika Flowers (photo: Reese Brown)

Hallie striding up Screaming Mimi (photo: Reese Brown)

In a 9-lap race, there are many opportunities to feed! (photo: Reese Brown)

Kait, Ida, and Caitlin at the top of Screaming Mimi (photo: Deb Miller)

Jumping for joy in the finish corral! (photo: Deb Miller)

Jessie Diggins won the 30k with Ida finishing second and Caitlin third!! (photo: Reese Brown)

One last team photo to finish out the season. Thanks to Pepa and Nick (as well as Ruth, Jake, and Anna – not pictured) for their support! Our skis were fantastic all week. Also thanks to Susan for coming out to cheer despite feeling under-the-weather. (photo: Deb Miller)

]]>A Montreal Adventurehttp://greenracingproject.com/blog/7486/a-montreal-adventure/
Sun, 31 Jan 2016 02:21:11 +0000http://greenracingproject.com/blog/?p=7486Last Monday Caitlin and Kaitlynn took a day trip to Montreal with three main objectives; preview the World Cup Course at Mount Royal Park, enjoy a touristy afternoon in the Old Town, and pick up Susan from the airport. Side goals included, but were not limited to, finding the Mount Royal self-guided bird feeder tour, eating some tasty food, and not getting too terribly lost.

We hit the road around 8:30am and navigated our way to Mount Royal with only a few wrong turns and one moment of panic when Kaitlynn had Caitlin get off at the wrong exit which led us into a tunnel going strait under the city…

Once at Mount Royal we headed off onto the trails with a somewhat accurate idea of where the course might go. After skiing about half of what we thought was a 13k loop we realized that the course was actually only a little over 3k… The trails in the park ranged from fairly wide double-tracked roads to quite narrow snowshoe paths, which we did try skiing on only to came nose-to-nose with a fat-bike unicyclist.

Watch out for the speedy unicyclist!

Checking out the snowshoe trails!

Skaters on Lac au Castors, otherwise known as Beaver Lake, which the ski trails go around

Those are some gooey skis when they can pick up a stick that big!

Towards the end of our ski we came across a large stone building with a fantastic view of the city. We think the course circumnavigates the building.

Kait skis over to a city overlook point. We think the course for the World Cup might go out this way by the wall, or at least somewhere nearby.

Skiing to the edge to look out over Montreal

The city spread out below us

Obligatory selfie with the view

Of course we had to take advantage of the cheesy frame to capture our “Montreal moment!”

Looking towards the city from part of the race course

We had almost given up hope of finding any bird feeders, although we had found many bird houses, and had started skiing back to the van when we came across one! For anyone interested, we saw quite a few Black-capped Chickadees, some White-breasted Nuthatches, and many fat squirrels.

We found a birdfeeder! (Which was a sideline purpose of our trip to Mont Royal.) Kait poses with the feeder, and the fat grey squirrels at its base.

Big, well-fed, city squirrels

Caitlin checking out one of the many bird houses along the trail. Surprisingly enough, there weren’t any birds in it…

We spotted a few mounties who actually headed out onto the ski trails shortly after we took this picture

Our ski-outing and trail-scouting complete, we navigated back down into the Old Town section of the city to find a parking spot. It ended up being in somewhat of an art gallery district, and we wandered in and out of a few galleries and shops, walked down to the waterfront, and meandered through the city streets to the Notre-Dame Basilica. For a blue sky day, it got surprisingly cold in the later afternoon, and we paused for a welcome cup of tea before resuming our walk. (After all, what would we two do without our three cups of tea a day!?) Five o’clock found us getting particularly hungry, so we popped in to a low-key pub-style restaurant along Rue St. Denis. Although the food took a little while and we were ravenous by the time it arrived, it was definitely worth it. We agreed that if we’d been in the US, a place with that ambiance would most likely have served iceberg lettuce, greasy burgers, toasted white bread, but instead we were treated to leafy greens and crusty baguettes!

A government-related building down near the waterfront

Looking up a side street towards the Notre-Dame Basilica.

Tall towers

One of the many fascinating buildings of Montreal

We walked by these cool lamp posts outside the Notre-Dame Basilica, with the Bank of Montreal across the square

There just aren’t ornate doors, or buildings, like this in the United States. Montreal has an old-world, European feel. Front entrance to the Notre-Dame Basilica

What interesting statues they have!

We counted at least 6 stuffed polar bears in Montreal. These three were in an Inuit Art shop/fur store. Pretty sure they weren’t for sale…

We also found a stuffed tiger.

The Bank of Montreal building, designed to make you feel small, and the occupants powerful and solid

An evening at the square

After our few hours in Old Town, we were off to pick up Susan at the airport! One of at least three airports near the city, we were headed to Pierre Trudeau International airport, taking care not to exit the highway for any of the other airports. Throughout our day, we were navigating “old school” style, using maps and written directions, because neither of us had phones that work in Canada, or GPS units! Caitlin primarily drove while Kaitlynn manned the maps, both working to keep up with the rapid-fire highway signs and numerous intersections in the city. It also took us a little while to guess our way over to the highway, especially while being attentive to the fact that many streets are one-way, and that information was missing from our map. We felt like the Night Bus from Harry Potter as we squeezed our sprinter van down many narrow, one-way, cobbled streets with cars parked on both sides. Upon arriving at the airport, we were pretty sure Susan had been on the ground for a while, and we needed to make contact with her, so Kaitlynn hopped out of the van at the airport to connect to wifi and find Susan. Meanwhile Caitlin thought it would be most sensible to take a short loop around the airport with the van and return to the pick-up area rather than waiting, in case the parking attendants were strict. Several miles later down the highway, having missed the turn to loop the airport, with no idea how to turn around and no passenger-navigator, it seemed like the waiting option would have been more sensible. But she finally got off the highway, found a way under it, and found her way back to the airport, perfect timing to find Susan and Kaitlynn ready to be picked up! It was great to catch up with Susan on the drive back, it definitely helped the time pass more quickly, and before we knew it, our adventure was over and we were back at the house in Craftsbury!

]]>Skiing and Wreath Makinghttp://greenracingproject.com/blog/6401/skiing-and-wreath-making/
Sun, 23 Nov 2014 00:33:40 +0000http://greenracingproject.com/blog/?p=6401This past week we’ve been partaking in some fun activities like early season skiing and wreath making. We’ve received enough natural snow over the past few days to make many of the trails skiable (with rock skis). My morning ski a few days ago was simply stunning with cold temps, fresh powder, and a clear sky. I felt like I was skiing through a winter wonderland!

Great skiing even on un-groomed trails

In addition to the natural snow, we have plenty of man-made snow. A few days ago we were able to do 30-second intervals along a short stretch of trail. Now, thanks to a lot of hard work, we have deep cover on a full 1.5K loop which enables us to test some of our new race skis.

Blowing snow in the upper soccer field

The pile of man-made snow in the lower soccer field

The PistenBully spreading freshly blown snow

This morning we did a skate sprint time trial in preparation for the SuperTour in West Yellowstone. We were joined by some of the Craftsbury juniors, GRP rowers, and Dublin High School skiers. We did a qualifier followed by four rounds of heats in which everyone took part. There were three people in each heat and the first finisher moved up a heat bracket while the third finisher moved down. It was an exciting format because we ended up racing against different people in almost every heat. Tomorrow we’ll be doing a 10/15K classic time trial.

In between our workouts on Wednesday many GRP athletes and staff made wreaths for the Center under the guidance of wreath making pros, Pam and Amy. There was plenty of balsam, spruce, and cedar to choose from as well as a variety of decorations so each wreath was a unique work of art. It’s harder than it might seem to create a decent-looking wreath. The wreath making process involves grouping bunches of greenery and attaching them every few inches with wire to a circular metal frame. I started off making rather dense greenery bundles for the relative size of my frame and had to do some adjusting so that my wreath didn’t turn into a circular green blob!

Pam and Caitlin making wreaths

Caitlin’s wreath

Liz modeling my wreath

Well, that’s all for now. The GRP skiers are off to West Yellowstone on Tuesday for the first races of the season and the biathletes have already left for Canmore. We’re excited for the season to start!

]]>More Glacier Skiinghttp://greenracingproject.com/blog/6280/more-glacier-skiing/
Thu, 25 Sep 2014 19:22:49 +0000http://greenracingproject.com/blog/?p=6280Here is a video from yesterday’s classic distance ski. In addition to skiing footage, it also includes some well-integrated scenic clips. In my opinion it was the best day on the glacier so far. We were treated to a clear sky, fresh powder, and hard wax conditions. I didn’t want to stop skiing!

However, the weather on the glacier is extremely changeable and today the conditions were less ideal. We’ve been taking the first tram up to the glacier in the morning (around 7:45am). When we showed up at the tram station this morning the recorded wind speed at the top was 58 km/hour. Earlier this week we had experienced 43 km/hour wind which was rather unpleasant so we decided to switch our morning and afternoon workouts and try skiing in the afternoon instead. The wind had subsided substantially when we returned to the tram station in the afternoon and we decided to go for it. We were the only ones on the glacier when we first arrived. It was sleeting and the visibility was extremely poor which made following the serpentines difficult. I had to keep one foot in the track on the downhills to ensure I didn’t ski off the trail and the light was so flat that I kept loosing my balance. Despite the suboptimal weather, the skiing was quite good and the conditions lent a sense of adventure to the workout. As we were skiing, the wind picked up and the recently groomed tracks began to fill with snow which made following the trail even more difficult. Liz and I skied together and took turns leading. We also each took a turn skiing into a snow bank because we couldn’t see the trail! We all decided to implement the buddy system this afternoon to ensure that no one got lost or left behind.

Very low visibility!

Pepa sharing some pre-workout advice

This really captures the views from the glacier today. If you look closely at the center of the photo you can discern some very faint figures.

Tomorrow will be our final day in Austria and our last time skiing on the glacier. It’s forecasted to be clear, but you never know what the weather will do!

]]>Photos from Race to the Top of VThttp://greenracingproject.com/blog/6137/photos-from-race-to-the-top-of-vt/
Tue, 16 Sep 2014 13:27:57 +0000http://greenracingproject.com/blog/?p=6137About three weeks ago the GRP skiers and biathletes as well as some of the GRP rowers, junior skiers, and the Craftsbury junior coach ran the Race to the Top of Vermont. While this post is a bit late, I figured better late than never! Racers climbed the Stowe Toll Road for 4.3 miles and gained about 2700 vertical feet. The weather for the race was beautiful albeit a bit on the warm side. Thus, the feed station half way up the road was a welcome sight and I ended up dumping more water over my head than I consumed. The Craftsbury athletes raced well and for a full breakdown of Craftsbury results you can take a look at this news article. You can find full results here. The following photos from the race include many (but not all) of the Craftsbury athletes (photos courtesy of Deb Miller).

The finish at the top of the Toll Road

Gordon placed 3rd overall

Pete finished in 5th place

Mike finished 8th overall

Phil (GRP rower) finished 30th and, according to the official results, won the Clydesdale category (200+ pounds), but as far as we know he’s still a lightweight…

Ethan (33rd overall and the real winner of the Clydesdale category) and Susan (31st overall and 2nd for women)

Ida finished 3rd in the women’s race

Alex finished in 55th place overall

Caitlin placed 5th for the women

Liz placed 11th for women and 76th overall

I (Kait) finished 126th overall

The finishing area beneath the nose on Mansfield – GRP rower Maggie enjoys some water post-race